Great piece out today by Ken Goe, highlighting the problem that is killing college track and field as a spectator sport (thanks to Matt Daddy for the link).  Goe's premise is basically as follows: the overspecialization of track and field at the collegiate level (mainly due to a scholarship limit of 12.6 for men and 18.0 for women) has led to teams concentrating their scholarships in order to be really good in a certain area, and leaving then lacking enough athletes across the board to participate in scoring meets.  The money quotes from Vin Lananna:

From a conceptual standpoint, the more things we can do that involve scoring in the sport of track and field, and get in line with what other sports do, I think it’s good for the sport, good for the spectators and good to generate interest.  I’ll be quick to follow up and say as long as we have a ludicrous number of scholarships, 12.6 for men and 18 for women, it makes it very difficult. It’s a great idea, a great concept. But it’s really hard. There are 21 events in track and field and 12.6 grants. We don’t even have a starting lineup.

The bottom line here is context.  There has to be two things present for the average fan to pay attention to an event:  it has to be easily accessible, and it has to be easy to see why the event matters.  College track and field fails on both accounts. 

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Both the Oregon men and women fell to second in the final day of competition at the NCAA track and field championships. Oregon did what they could, but with few competitors today, they simply couldn't add to their lead. Andrew Wheating won the 800m at the line, and Keshia Baker took 5th place in the 400m, getting the women's team 4 points. But in the end, they could not hold off the Aggies, who overperformed in a few key events on the final day, including taking second place in the 4x400 relay to seal the deal.

The Oregon women did as well as expected, but the Oregon men left too many points on the track, ending up with 46 points when they were projected to have 67. Matthew Centrowitz's injury in the 1500m put the Ducks in an early hole, and the Ducks underperformed in other areas as well. It's unfortunate that such a great season had to end in this way.

However, despite the disappointment, this was a great season for Oregon track. We saw some dominating performances, including the twilight run in which the men set the collegiate record in the four mile relay. We saw Oregon sweep the Pac-10 tournament, and we saw great performances by Galen Rupp, who will go down as one of the greats in Oregon history.

So congratulations to the men's and women's track and field teams, and great season and a job well done. GO DUCKS!

Heading into the final day, both the Oregon men and the Oregon women are leading the track and field championships, and the possibility for a sweep still exists.

Friday saw Galen Rupp won the 5000m race, after stopping mid-race to fix his shoe. Rupp took 10 points in the event while Shadrack Biwott finished eighth for one point. Cyrus Hosetler came in 4th in the javelin, picking up 5 points for the team, leaving the Oregon men at 36 points on the meet, 20 of which were won by Rupp and Ashton Eaton.

On the women's side, Rachel Yurkovich won her second consecutive NCAA javelin, while Brianne Theisen won the heptathlon, breaking the school record in the process. With a second place finish from Nicole Blood in the 5,000, and a sixth place finish by Kalindra McFadden in the heptathalon, the Oregon women have 39 points overall.

Going into the final day, things are going to get very exciting. On the men's side, Oregon only has two more competitorsm, Andrew Wheating in the 800 and Jordan McNamara in the 1,500. While Wheating should win, McNamara will do well to simply win points. The only Oregon woman left is Keshia Baker, who will compete in the 400.

Unfortunately, Oregon's main competition is Texas A&M, which still has a multitude of competitors. While the Aggie men only have 13 points, they have 4 competitors in the triple jump with 3 likely to score. They also have competitors in the 200, 400, and 4x400. Texas A&M has faltered in the competition, like Oregon, but the Ducks could not capitalize. The final day is sure to be action packed, as track and field news projects Ducks to win 46 to 44.

The Oregon women do not have quite the lead that the men do, as they are up only 20 points over A&M, do not figure to put many points on the board today. The meet's is Texas A&M's to lose, and they are projected to take the title, 50 to 44.

Today's meet should be on CBS (or can be seen online here), with the main track events set to be starting at 12:05 CST. GO DUCKS! Bring home the championships!